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YZ7 



Lincoln 




Class 
Book. 






THE PROVIDENTIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF 



THE DEATH OF 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 



BY 



REV. ROBERT B. YARD, 



Pastor of Clinton St., M. E. Church, late Chaplain of First Regiment 
of N. J. Volunteers, Sixth Corps. 






THE PROVIDENTIAL SIGNIFICANCE 



OP THE 



DE^TH 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN: 

A DISCOURSE 

DELIVERED IN THE 

CENTRAL M. E. CHURCH, NEWARK, N. J., 

ON THE DAY OF NATIONAL HUMILIATION, 
JtJ:NrE 1st, 1865, 

BY 

REV. ROBERT B. YARD 

P.STOK OP CUXXO.V ST. M. E. CHURCH : L.T. CH.P^.. 0. ISX R.a,ME.X N. J. VOLONTKERS, 6rB CORPS. 



" God lifts to-day the veil, and shows 
The features of the demon." Whittiek. 



POBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE AUDIENCE. 



H. HARRIS, PUBLISHER AND STATIONER 
288 BROAD ST. 



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SERMON. 



" Be still and know that I am God," Ps. 46 : 10. 

" And the Lord said unto Mo?es, Get thee up into this mount Abarim and 
see the land which I have given unto the children of Israel. And when thou 
hast seen it, thou shalt be gatherd unto thy people, as Aaron, thy brother was 
gathered."— NcM. 27 : 12, IS. 

" He being dead, yet speaketh." — Heb. 11:4. 



Most truly we are living 

" In a grand and awful time, 
In an age, on ages telling, 
To be living is sublime." 

Events pregnant with a world-wide significance are passing 
so rapidl_y before our eyes, that we can scarcely ajiprehend 
their full import. 

The lesson of yesterday, startling, novel, and of vast meaning, 
is almost obscured by that of today. Solemn and suggestive 
as were the voices of the night-time of our sorrow and war, 
they are sui-passed by the warning utterances of our wondrous 
deliverances and gladness. 

A giant young nation is awaking from its slumbers, shaking 
oif its drowsy feelings, and addressing itself to such work as 

the world never witnessed. In this waking there are the 
usual strugglings of flesh and spirit, of inclination against 
duty, of prejudice against principle, and of foolish and fleshly 
parleyings with self-ease, pride and luxury. 

The present hour is one of great importance. We are assem- 
bled in obedience to the will of the President of the United 



States, to improve a day of national liumiliation and prayer, 
in view of the strange and terrible visitation of sorrow that 
has been permitted to fall upon the nation, in the death of 
President Lincoln, making the country " one great house of 
mourning ;" and " to unite in solemn service to Almighty God, 
in memory of the good man who has been removed." 
We are met in common with thousands " to contemplate his 
virtues, and to mourn his sudden and violent end," to improve 
the lessons of his life, and to consult an event in its providen- 
tial meanings, which has shaken the world, and marked the 
age in which we live. 

This is a day for tears, and for tender yielding of the heart 
to God's instructions ; a day for thought, for prayer, for the 
sober contemplation of duty, for a calm survey of the great 
work devolved upon us ; a day for the rallying of the iSTation's 
better nature, and of the great moral forces which are to fol- 
low up the fruits of victory. 

It is scarcely expected that we shall dwell so much on the 
character of Lincoln, as that we shall bow ourselves before 
God, and bending before the storm of His wise permitting, 
humbly ask " Lord w^hat wilt thou have us do ? " 

For many weeks our minds and hearts have been full of 
this wonderful man. The press, the pulpit, and the fireside 
have glowed with the repetition of his name and virtues. 
Horror at the black and cowardly manner of his taking off, and 
disgust at the system and the political belief which bore such 
inhuman fruit, have mingled with the softening memory of the 
true and the good man ; and while we have learned to hate 
crime, we have come to love and lionijr goodness and truth 
more than ever before. 

Two worlds are uniting in the testimony of his real great- 
ness. While the true portraiture of the man is as yet impos- 
sible, the conviction is deepening that in him we have had an 
unusual actor upon the theatre of life ; in him 
" A combination, and a form indeed 
Where every God did seem to set his seal 
To give the world assurance of a man." 



Gentle, and yet bold ; shrewd and yet nobly honest ; of great 
political sagacity ; firm in his principles, yet possessing a 
magical influence upon his opponents ; with a religious soul, 
but of no religious pretension ; a philantrophist, a patriot, and 
a statesman, he takes his place among tlie Wilberforces, the 
Howards, the Crom wells, the Hancocks, and the Washingtons, 
the peer of any, if not the snperior of all. 

In Lincoln's death a great light has gone out in all the 
habitations of men over the entire world. A calamity has 
befallen humanity, sending its forcefnl shock to the sensitive 
ends of the earth. Wherever labor seeks respect and requite ; 
wherever honesty in private and public life, is held in honor ; 
wherever the poor, the down-trodden, and the oppressed mourn 
beneath the lash, or sink into degradation because elevation is 
forbidden ; wherever freedom's shrines are loved, and free- 
dom's names are sweet ; wherever man is respected for his 
dignity, and worth, not wealth, is estimable, Lincoln's death 
will come to add fresh sorrow to despondency and to dash for 
a time the hopes of virtue. 

Among noticeable circumstances nothing is more striking 
than the universality of this great affliction, and the personal 
appropriation of the event to the private, sacred, tearful grief 
of man, woman, and child, of diifering sects, parties, nationalities 
and races. A fearful blow has fallen upon the beating heart of 
the nation, already torn and bleeding, and strong men weep ; and 
strife, and bitterness, and paltry partizanship hide away before 
the majesty of so sacred and so mighty a woe. 

Abraham Lincoln has passed away from earth to the bosom 
of the Divine ! The beloved chief of the nation, the friend of 
the oppressed, the foe of tyranny, the honest patriot, the second 
Washington, the providential saviour of this great land, the 
man of the people, has become a Martyr to Freedom. 

I wi$h to call especial attention to the Providential signifi- 
cance of the death of Lincoln. 

Sorrow, pain, change and death are the common lot. 
" Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward." A 



6 

divine purpose is to be fulfilled in the permitted suffering of 
mankind. As those trees are sturdiest, that are most exposed 
to the storms, so human character develops its highest qualities 
under trial. Difticulties are the nurse ofmanlj energy. 

There is much more of woe in the world than of happiness ; 
though some one has said that " while at this moment some- 
where darkness is covering the face of the earth, it is also true 
that somewhere smiles are playing on human laces, and half 
the world is bathed in light and sunshine." And still 
earth is the crucible, and mankind is " in the lires." 
Earthquakes destroy entire cities, and ftll a land with mourn- 
ing. Pestilence bears thousands to untimely graves and nips 
the glowing promise of many a brightening life ; war strips 
nations of their youth, their wealth and their power, and causes 
the multiplication of weeping homes and hearts. It might be 
different ; God could change this state of things. Yet He 
" doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men." 
He sees it better that we should not 

•• love this earth so well 

As not to long with God to dwell." 

In this light we are to view the event which calls us together. 
In no point could we be more tenderly touched. Our furnace 
fires had been heated six times, it was necessary that they 
should be intensified to the seventh degree. 

The result has vindicated the wisdom of the permissive Pro. 
vidence. The event was a refining process that purged the 
nation, and men drew nearer to God and to each other, under 
the bitter trial. 

Lincoln was removed at a time when he could best be spared. 
Evidently he was the num for the hour in the times in which 
he lived. His rare good sense, his honesty, his shrewd insight 
into political events, his single eye to the weal of the wliole 
land, his unbending devotion to the principle of equal i-ights 
to the Union, and to the authurity of the laws, all fitted him 
for his days and place. 

But the hour of his work drew on when he could say, " It is 
finished." The dark hour for which he was given was about 



to yield to a glorious period of triumph, and repose. It were 
long enough to live to have accomplished such work as his. 
One chapter of history ended here ; another was to begin. 

Like Moses at Nebo, he saw the land, and when he had seen 
it he was gathered unto his fathers. Though he lived not to 
enjoy the fruition of his hopes, he gained that which was better. 
How deep, how full, how calm, how intense must have been 
his gratification at the sight of the crumbling and falling of 
the boastful house of sin and violence, and the risiug in mighty 
pro})ortiuns, and in assured stability of the temple of libertj^ ! 

Thus Daniel, too, in the midst of usefulness, when apparent- 
ly most needed by the age, and the crisis, confessing God be- 
fore an idolatrous people, and maintaining his integrity in the 
most trying ordeal, was summoned away. Yet his work was 
done. 

Abraham Lincoln died with words of forgiveness on his lips, 
and purposes of amnesty, and good will in his heart ; died in 
the work of saving this nation, and of scattering the seeds of 
life, and prosperity, whose fruit the descendents of his mur- 
derers will eat, and bless God for. How strange that the 
world's benefactors should thus be treated. The bitter cry 
" Crucify Him," " Crucify Him," was raised against one who 
was even then blessing his enemies. 

" As on the fragrant sandal tree 
The woodman's axe descends, 

And she who bloomed so beauteously 
Beneath the strong stroke bends, 

E'en on the edge that caused her death. 
Dying she breathes her scented breath, 

As if betokening in her fall, 
Peace to her foes, and love to all." 

We are taught in this event the lesson of trust in God, 
Men fail, but God endures. 

Never in history has God's care over His people been more 
beautifully illustrated than in every part and point of the 
struggle which ended in the death of the President. JSTever 
was the affectionate trust and devotion of any people more 



fully tested and challenged. There have been many dark 
days, — days of disaster, of defeat, of weakness, and irresolu- 
tion. Tlier have been hours when the strongest hearts grew 
weary and sick at the hope deferred : when the cause of free- 
dom seemed hopelessly environed witli embittered and gigantic 
foes ; when at home and abroad, in cabinet councils, and in 
the leadership of armies, in the exchequer, and in seats of 
justice, doubt, enmity, and disloyalty reared themselves like 
dangerous rocks in the track of the distressed ship of state, 
and good men anxiously prayed " O Lord, how long?" 

Through all God kept us. In the belief of God's care Lin- 
coln ever trusted. Cheerfully did he l)ear up, ascribing cur 
successes to Him, and directing the great heart of the I^ation 
to the God of truth and right. Herein alone is the Nation's 
hope. The editice of human lil)erty can stand secure only 
when it rests upon God's truth. The question of our strength, 
existence, aiid power as a nation is more a question of the 
christian life, faith, and purity of the people, than it is even 
of our admirable Constitution. It is ground of hope that the 
general exclamation under the astounding tidings of the assas- 
sination was, " God lives." This tempers our sorrow today, 
and is the bow of promise in the disturbed atmosphere of our 
political life. 

That there might remain no lingering doubt of the charac- 
ter of 

" the evil thing 

That severs and estranges," 
Lincoln's death was permitted. 

The spirit of slavery exhibited itself in that hour in its 
native character, without any glosses. It was true to itself — 
its traditions, its character, and its spirit. Its true tendency 
ever is to weaken the bonds of virtue, to pamper and glorify 
self, to feed the lust of power, to demoralize the manly nature, 
to degrade the essential dignity of labor, to build up an aris- 
tocracy of family, of birth, and of property, to dehumanize 
immortal manhood on the plea of inferiorit}^, to destroy the 
marriage relation, to estrange the ties of kindred, to crush the 



9 ■ 

aspirings of mind, and to encourage acts, the record of which 
makes the cheek of humanity bhish. BrutaHty, oppression, 
wrong, libertinism and murder, are its unfailing, inevitable 
characteristics. It cannot brook the slighest opposition. The 
imperious will of Southern petty princes becomes too well 
accustomed to unquestioned sway to allow of an}^ interference 
with their affairs. All the worst j)assions of human nature 
are stirred by the cry of " Abolition," because all the lowest 
passions of the nature find gratification in the existence of 
slavery. The death of Lincoln was the legitimate fruit of 
slavery, contemplated with ardent desire from the beginning 
of the straggle. Slavery was the gathering swooping whirl- 
wind, its point was Booth, its destructive fury was most man- 
ifest upon the tall representative man of freedom. 

And yet that l)low was not aimed so mu-ch at the man Lin- 
coln as at the cause of which he was the bold exponent. The 
blow was aimed at your heart, and mine ; at the hated North, 
the vile monster, Freedom, the plebian crew. In evidence of 
this I give you some jottings of a visit which I have just made 
to Richmond and Petersburg the late seat of the Rebellion. 
It was mine to mingle with high and low, with the refined 
and the uncultured, the white and black, in the routes of travel, 
the parlor, the hotel, and the negro quarters. There is no 
mistaking the feeling. Bitterness, hate, pride, and a deep 
sense of injury prevail in Southern minds. Scorn of the 
best blood of the North, contempt for its most brilliant 
talent, and an aristocratic exclusiveness find irrepressible ex- 
pression. With the Southern people Jeff". Davis is a saint — 
one of the most conscientious and devoted of Christians. In 
their estimation the war has developed but two Generals at all 
worthy of the title, or gifted with military ability — Lee and 
McClellan. Commendation of New Jersey is on every lip. 
Sensible as I am of the good opinion of others, and desirous 
of appreciation of myself, and of my State, I was chagrined 
to find among the bitter enemies of Freedom and Union such 
hearty admiration of New Jersey. " She has been truer to us 



10 

than Maryland." From the elegant banker at Petersburg to 
the hotspur of the Sputtswood, at liichmond, but one expression 
of good feeling prevailed in this direction. Generally Lin- 
coln's death awakens no horror, Booth's crime finds no stern 

censure. 

" Hot bums the fire 

Where wrongs expire ; 

Nor spares the hand, 

That from the land 

Uproots the ancient evil. 
What gives the wheat lields blades of steel ? 

What points the rebel cannon ? 
What sets the roaring rabble's heel 
On the old star spangled pennon ? 

What breaks the oath 

Of the men of the South ? 

What whets the knife 

For the Union's life ? 

Hark to the answer, Slavkky. 

****** 

" But blest the ear. 
That yet shall bear 
The jubilant bell, 
That rings the knell 
Of Slavery forever." 

Aniona" the lessons of the hour is that of the essential and 
original equality of the races and nationalities centering in 
this land. 

The doctrine of the South, in sympathy with which are 
hundreds here, is that the black man is not a human being. 
It is impossible to over-estimate the importance of this 
question. Every living creature that is not a human being is 
a heast, and is by God's law subject to man's rule, laid under 
the laws which govern property, and lives for the sole con- 
venience of man. The hopes of eternity, the joys of redemp- 
tion, the blood of Christ, the visions of faith, the ordinances 
of religion, and the fellowship of saints, are for man alone, not 
for animals. However slight the difference, if the creature be 
not human, it is simply an animal. 



11 

The strangest recklessness has prevailed on this subject. 
Men have willingly assumed the doctrine that the African race 
is not human in simple justification of their deeds of o})pression. 
Rousseau and Voltaire, avowed infidels, assumed that the 
African was but a superior type of Orang Outang. The same 
class of reasoning was adopted years ago to prove that the 
Dutch originally were fish, which being left high and dry 
by the tide, gradually accommodated tliemselves to the 
change of circumstances. The tails being no longer useful 
gradually wore away. A high authority says,* " according 
to the definition of species, the question is settled at once , 
there can be no doubt that all men are of one family." He 
adds, " Cuvier and BufFon, and Lawrence, and Pritchard, and 
Blumenbach, in fact, all resjjedable authorities in Physiology, 
admit that mankind must be regarded as one species, and that 
there is nothing in tJieir differences of appearance which for- 
hids their derivation frmn a single ^>'«?V." He continues : 
" All analogy and the results of all arithmetical calculation 
with regard to the numerical increase of mankind lead to this 
conclusion. And if we add to the weight of evidence thus 
gathered, the direct testimony of all respectable tradition, it is 
sufficiently established that men have sprung from a single 
pair." 

Buffbn and Hunter contend " that the preservation of species 
is perpetually provided for in the law, that animals derived 
from parents of diflerent kinds will not perpetuate their race ; 
that the various species of animals have been preserved un- 
mixed for ages, which could not have been the case unless 
some such rule of propagation had existed." 

The popular objections to the peculiar physical structure of 
the African are simply absurd. " Every large collection of 
people for any considerable length of time separated from the 
rest by civil institutions and geographical lines, have assumed 
peculiarities of appearance quite remarkable and inexplicable. 
A German is easily distinguished from a Spaniard, and even a 

* Dr. T. E. Bond, Jr., of Baltimore. 



12 

Scotchman from an Irishman." 1 appeal again to Dr, Bond : 
" Innumerable intermixtures and modifications of ancient dif- 
ferences in color, &c., have undoubtedly taken place. Indeed 
the changes of comparatively few years have completely oblit- 
erated powerful races. What denizen of Rome or Greece can 
trace his unmixed pedigree back to the powerful and polished 
people who made those names so famous in story 'i Nay, what 
Englishman can show that he is of purely Saxon lineage V 

The fact is unquestioned that if the negro be condemned on 
craniological principles, we must conclude the highest type of 
female beauty, the statue of Yenus, to represent the head of 
an idiot. 

It is claimed that the African has always been in subjection, 
when the truth is, that the negroes have never l)een conquered 
by the whites. 

It must be borne in mind that " no people have ever civilized 
themselves, and circumstances have prevented the civilizing 
forces from acting upon them." 

" Civilization has stretched her hand to the Indian, and he 
has refused it. She has trodden the African with unrelenting 
sternness, yet, while groaning under her feet, he has perceived 
her graces and imitated her arts." 

The negro has evinced a remarkable reach of moral power, 
and an apprehension of religious truth only to be associated 
with the highest capacity. Where he has been allowed the, 
privilege he has risen to excellence in religion and in war. 
Fidelity, courage, intelligence, endurance, patriotism, and 
military aptitude, have found perfect illustration among the 
negroes of this war. 

So far as the natural inferiority of the black race is con- 
cerned, we have ample testimony to the fact that some of the 
most cultivated of the ancients were negroes. Dr. Fritchard 
sums up thus : " We may consider the general result of the 
facts which we can collect concerning the physical character 
of the Egyptians to be this, that the national configuration pre- 
vailing in the most ancient times was nearly the negro form, 



13 

with woolj hair, but that in a later age this character had 
become considerably modified, and changed, and that a part of 
the population of Egypt resembled the modern Hindoos. The 
general complexion was black, or at least a very dusky hue." 

" The great Sphinx," says Dr. Bond, " and many other an- 
cient Egyptian works of art, are delineations of the negro 
countenance ; and Herodotus describes the ancient Egyptians 
as black skinned and wooly haired." 

Turning to Rollin I find these words : " Egypt was ever 
considered by all the ancients as the most renowned school 
for wisdom and politics, and the source from whence most arts 
and sciences were derived. Tliis kingdom bestowed its noblest 
labors and finest arts on the improvement of mankind, and 
Greece was so sensible of this that its most illustrious men, 
as Homer, Pythagoras, Lycurgus, and Solon, with many more 
whom it is needless to mention, travelled into Egypt to com- 
plete their studies, and draw from that fountain whatever was 
most rare and valuable in every kind of learning." 

In our day, in the South, the principal objection of South- 
ern leaders to the employing of black soldiers was, that it 
would be degrading for the South to owe its salvation to the 
black race. Yet proud and cultivated -Crreece was pleased to 
sit at the feet of black men for improvement. 

There is never a prouder victory for man than when he rises 
superior to prejudice ; when, doing violence to mere fancy or 
taste, or training, he determines to do right. Next to the dis- 
grace of human bondage is the shame of caste, and of pride 
of color, or of lineage. 

" Unless above himself he can erect himself, 
How mean a thing is man." 

The true idea is that a man's a man only in those qualities 
of mind and heart which honor the species, irrespective of color 
or form. I have come to regard the presence of mixed races 
as part of the great problem of probation. The black is here 
to test our better nature. There is hope of that man who can 
pass a black man without feeling uncomfortable. But I pity 



14 

liim who can find no better sport than to make perpetual war 
upon the negro. He seems to fear the promised rivalry of 
a people that shall yet develop eloquence, art, science, and 
religion in their divinest forms. The time is coming, when 
these people will mingle freely in society, never to lose their 
race-traits, but in ever abiding testimony of the power of en- 
lightened humanity to rise superior to prejudice, and to honor 
the likeness of God, whether inframed in ebony or in ivory. 

" There's a good time coming, when 
The pen shall supersede the sword ; 
And right, not might shall be the Lord ; 
Worth, not birth shall rule mankind, 

And be acknowledged stronger. 
The proper impulse has been given, 

Wait a lUlk longer.''^ 

Nowhere is the idea that the negro, freed, will not work, 
so warmly repelled as among the colored people of the South. 
" Who then will work V said All)ert Parker, a treed slave with 
blue eyes and light curly hair, to me at Petersburg. " Our 
white masters and mistresses cannot work. Our ladies have 
never put on their own shoes or stockings yet, or arranged 
their own hair." 

" If," said another duskey citizen, " the colored people won't 
work let them starve." 

Let theui learn to care for, to think for themselves, to struggle 
with difficulties, to develop, if ever so slowly, the powers that 
are inherent in all of the human family. 

What a worthy work ! How grand the triumph ! to make 
of the degraded African a man ; of his race a people. It is 
civilization to take the street children of our cities, and educate 
them. I love to watch the unfolding of a flower, or to plant 
the unpromising " slip," and then to watch its taking root, 
and its gruwth until it becomes a real, living, gladsome, bloom- 
ing fact. It is an honor to America to achieve an independence, 
and to take a leading })la('e among the free people of the earth, 
but it is an equal honor to her in her pride, and power to stoop 



15 

to recognize the stamp of our Divine Father in the soul of an 
abject race, and with noble feeling to say to them, hefi^ee^ be 
equal in all our rights and privileges. 

Was Abraham Lincoln degraded in our esteem last nifflit 
when we heard from Frederick Douglas, a negro, that Lincoln 
sought his counsel and enjoyed " a good time in conversing " 
with him about his people, and the means of their enlargement ? 
Nay, I loved Lincoln more for that testimony. Who is harmed 
by the elevation of Douglas ? Who is degraded in his won- 
derful eloquence ? What interest, civil, or religious, or social 
is disturbed ? 

The bugbear of amalgamation is continually flaunted in the 
eyes of the people. I will say to all anxious ones, who are 
trembling on this account, that the colored race does not ask 
any favors of this kind ; that the demand thus far has been 
on the other side, and that the white lords of the South 
have asked and compelled more favors in this direction 
than the blacks have ever asked. But in another century 
amalgamation will not be nearly so hateful a word as abolition 
has been in this. Many a black Webster, and Clay, and 
Whitefield, will enchant listening thousands l)y their eloquence 
and power in Halls of Congress, and in seats oi Justice and 
Religion. But we can attord to let this question take care of 
itself. Llaving escaped rebellion and Southern domination, 
we are not to be frightened by the doleful cry of " amalgama- 
tion .'" 

We are taught to prize beyond price the Freedom which has 
cost us so much to win and to maintain. 

Human freedom in its highest forms is the comcomitant of 
the Gospel. Proclaim the latter and you secure, sooner or 
later, the former. Christianity never follows true civilization, 
but like the prow of a ship, it divides the unbroken wave of 
social and civil existence and bids men follow to the region of 
their truest aspirations. The sunken buoy carried to the bot- 
tom of the sea will possess an upward tendency still, which 
asserts itself in the moment of release, when it will move 



16 

eagerly toward the surface, tlirowing back in its ascent the 
superincumbent waters. Thus the spirit of Liberty, unquench- 
able, irrepressible but awaits the iitting hour to break through 
the sluggish mass of monarchical forms, and tyrannical author- 
ity, to repose calmly in the light of a high civilization and a 
divine faith. Like the ark of olden times, outriding the des- 
tructive storm and deluge, it floats over the world at once tlie 
cradle of a new life and the symbol of God's care. 

All through the dark ages men were repeating to themselves 
the word Liberty. Luther in Germany, and Frederick the 
Good Elector, withstood despotism and announced the rights 
of man. Zwingle caught up, and repeated the echo through 
the glens and over the mountain heights of Switzerland. Over 
among the dykes ot the Netherlands, William of Orange did 
worthy battle for this principle. The English revolution still 
further developed it. The idea of the equality of mankind 
became a doctrine. But a new field was needed. A little 
band sought these shores and found a refuge from intolerance. 
They submitted to equal hardships ; equally braved peril and 
grew to a nation, and a power, the brightning success of which 
has been the beacon light of a tempest tossed world to point 
to the haven of rest and plenty. 

" 'Tis liberty alone that gives the flower 
Of fleeting life, its lustre and perfume." 

Freedom, sustained by Christian faith and influences, is the 
basis of the highest exploits of mind, the most stirring schemes 
of philanthrophy, the most dazzling feats of valor, and the 
most extended triumphs of industry. Its province is to call 
into active life the best and purest forces of our being, and 
to stimulate to virtue, to learning, and to art. 

Four years ago in the very heart of the nation, a conspiracy 
which had long strengthened itself under the very dome of 
the National Capital, unfolded its demon-like form and struck 
at the Nation's life. The flag of our fathers, the symbol of 
freedom, the glorious banner of our western civilization, was 
shot down, and its folds were trampled by the feet of traitors. 



17 

The Slave States arrayed themselves against the general 
Government, and without a single justification, inaugurated a 
separate nationality in the interests of human slavery. Seces- 
sion was announced as a God-given right, and treason was 
justified from the example of the children of Israel in the 
Exodus, and from the example of the patriots of 1T76. Thus 
began the most wicked, causeless, powerful, and bloody rebel- 
lion known to history. If this movement be likened to the 
Exodus of the Hebrews from Egyptian bondage, secessionists 
must first prove that they were oppressed, enslaved, and cap- 
tives in a strange land. Instead of this they held tlie reins 
of power and dictated terms to the American Union for fifty 
years. It would be more proper to argue from the Scripture 
account, the duty of some dark-skinned Moses of Southern 
Slavery to lead the Exodus of the black race from the fearful 
oppression and wrong exercised over them by their luxurious 
Southern masters. 

Ifc would be in place, too, to trace the history of the Egyp- 
tian effort, in the attempt of the South to keep God's people en- 
slaved, and to understand that in their blind purpose to oppose 
the march of human progress, they have invoked a thousand 
woes, worse than the plagues of Egypt, and that in the end they 
were destined, like their prototype, to meet a terrible engulph- 
ment in the red sea of blood into which they so madly rushed. 

History will record the attempt of Southern aristocracy to 
elevate itself at the expense of the bondmen, and to climb to 
wealth and power on the shoulders of an abject people, whose 
minds, manhood, and morals, they were willing to crush in 
their selfish aims ; and the same pen will show how the black 
man unexpectedly slipped from beneath, and how places were 
changed and the " tables were turned." 

The glory of om* nation is its absorption and employment 
of the representatives of all races and peoples of the earth, 
its blending and fusing of all the forces of humanity ; that out 
of all might come a perfect nation, recognizing the brother- 
hood ot man, and offering a common asylum for the oppressed 



18 

of all lands and of all complexions. The men who claim this 
as the land of the white man, ignore the genins and aim of 
our glorious nationality, and evidently took the wrong route 
when they abandoned the land of tlieir birth. They should 
have gone to China. The franchises of tliis republic cannot 
be safely denied to classes of our fellow citizens on the account 
of their foreign name, language, or appearance. Other qual- 
ifications may be demanded, l)ut not those of the cuticle. 

In a republican form of government there is ever a danger of 
radicalism and anarchy. While true liberty is never licentious, 
but flourishes best under judicious laws which seek to restrain 
the evil disposed, there is yet a morbid tendency to impatience 
under authority. Our hope is in the Word of God, and in 
the influences of Evangelical Christianity alone. It is impos- 
sible to check the tide, but it is in our power to direct its 
course. It is not desirable to destroy the mettlesome and 
restive horse, nor is it necessary in order to prevent his doing 
damage. Let him be simply controlled and guided by an in- 
telligent and kind mastery. We do not ask that electricity 
shall be suspended and stricken from the list of beneficent 
forces in nature, simply because it holds a fearful power of 
mischief in its grasp. It is too useful a servant, too good a 
friend. But we want to control and bind it to our own uses. 
We see the dangerous tendencies of freedDm when uncontrolled, 
but do not hence wish to return to despotism, though this 
would be preferable to anarchy. Nor is it necessary. Let the 
principle of American independence be borne in mind ; let 
the spirit of our patriot sires animate their children ; let the 
Constitution be kept from unholy and ambitious interference; 
let the maxims of the fathers of our country be cherished by 
their children, and Liberty will but rise to her most beneficent 
activity, and mankind be carried forward to the realization 
of its highest hopes. How apt and beautiful is the idea, some- 
where represented in a painting, of George Washington stand- 
ing upon the steps of the Capitol while the clouds grow dark 
and the fierce lightnings threaten : with a sword drawn, he 



19 

catches the electricity upon its point and gnides it liarmless to 

the ground, 

'• Truth, freedom, virtue, these have power, 

If rightly cherished, to uphold, sustain. 

And bless a nation in its darl\est hour. 

Neglect them, her material gifts are vain, 

In dust shall her weak wing be dragged and soiled, 

And Liberty be crushed 'neath toys for which she basely toiled." 

Let US not fail, to-day, to gather hope for the future. The 
fall of our chief should be the occasion of a sturdier purpose ; 
his death the birth of a new life. The greatest triumphs of 
our war have been our disasters. We were scarcely ready for 
tlie future that is opening so grandly upon us, until sanctified 
Ijy the baptism of disappointment and suifering. We stand 
to-day in the portals of a Beulali in national history ; a glad 
morning unfolds its blushing beauties after a long night. Our 
cherished Union, whose links form the necklace of Freedom, 
is re-established, while disunion has received a rebuke that dis- 
misses it from decent society. Secession may succeed better 
in Great Britian where it is looked on with much favor ; but 
in this land its name will ever be associated with the chivalry 
of poison, assassination, and starvation, and remain the 
synonym of shame, of failure, and of wrong. 

The future of the whole country is hopeful — that of the 
South especially. What though her fields are wasted, her 
cities and towns silent, shattered, and grass-grown, her people 
dispirited and impoverished, has she not had the awful incubus 
of Slavery removed from her breast, and is she not for the first 
time in her history released to go up and " possess the land ?" 
At present there is much bitterness. I found men advocating 
the secession theory still, though deprecating the practice. 
Many lately rich are penniless. Southern fields are wasted, 
and Southern energy is prostrated. A new day is dawning, 
however, and the hitherto undeveloped resources of that glow- 
ing, fertile land will yet astonish the world. 

" Behold the day of promise comes, full of inspiration, 

The blessed day by prophets sung, for the healing of the nations, 



20 

Old midnight errors flee away ; they soon will all be gone, 
While Heavenly Angels seem to say, the good time's coming on. 

The captive now begins to rise, and burst his chains asunder ; 
While politicians stand aghast, in anxious fear and wondei-. 
No longer shall the bondman sigh beneath the galling fetters ; 
He sees the dawn of Freedom nigh and reads the golden letters." 

]^ot less assuring of our future is the fate of the leaders of 
the rebellion. It is a satisfaction to know that mischievous 
men cannot be allowed to carry out, at pleasure, their intrigues 
against the peace of society, and that the rebel leaders must find 
a home in some other land, or bear the punishment of their 
crimes. It is a guarantee of safety for the future that some of 
the most earnest of the rebel conspirators shall expiate their hor- 
rible offences on the gallows. Their crime needs just such 
characterization. In no bittetness, or party rancor ; in no per- 
sonal dislike, nor in revenge, is this uttered. It is fitting that a. 
crime of crimes like that of Davis, Lee, and Breckenridge, 
should be clearly defined, for the good of mankind, and for 
the vindication of virtue, law, and humanity. 

In the accession of a new President, possessed of the highest 
administrative ability, tried in the fires of rebellion, and 
prompt and decisive in character ; in national resources, so 
vast that calculation is bewildered in attempting to compre- 
hend them ; and in a soldiery whose intelligence, bravery, 
endurance, dash, chivalric bearing, and sincere patriotism, 
challenge tlie admiration of the world, our future seems calmly 
bright and full of hope. 

Our honored dead are a rich heritage to our land. Their 
memory abides, freshly green, to constitute in the years that 
are to come, guardian infiuences for the strengthening and 
stimulating of their sons. They form the " cloud of witnesses " 
in the presence of whom we are urged to run our national 
career. We pay honor to-day to their names, their heroism, 
and their sacrifices. 

" Ye glorious dead ! not unavenged shall sleep 
Your honored dust. No tomb may rear its head 



21 

Your deeds to tell. But living statues steep 
With tears, the grass, that sighs above thy bed. 

There shall the hermit oft resort to weep ; 

The ground be hallov^ed with the pilgrim's tread ; 

Thy sons shall never yield to fell despair 

The bright and blessed hopes that cluster there." 

Let US not forget that the great object of all government is 
the benefit and happiness of the whole — the greatest good to 
the greatest ^iwniber — a good old democratic doctrine in which 
most of us have been reared. 

Let us continue to demonstrate to the world the superiority 
of free institutions, in a well directed course of self-govern- 
ment, proceeding independently of kings, nobles, titles, and 
pomp, and sustained by true patriotism and intelligent self- 
control. 

Nor ought we to forget that the truest insignia of an Amer- 
can citizen is Virtue. Intelligence, temperance, and personal 
uprightness, should be traits of our people characterizing them 
in all their intercourse with each other, or with foreign nations. 
Our flag must remain of untainted honor and faith. Of as 
great moment, at the present, is this to us, and to the world, 
as at the first. The world is in a transition state. Moment- 
ous events cast their shadows already before. Men are in 
expectancy of some wider development of the free principle 
in human government. Anxious are the tooks and questions 
directed to this land. No other country has such a history — 
strange, impressive, and sublime. God forbid that the strugg- 
ling, suffering, and oppressed millions on the face of the globe 
should ever fail to see the folds of the star-spangled banner 
waving over " the land of the free and the home of the brave," 
the earnest of success and the language of sympathy. As 
Ireland, as India, as the once free lands of Asia, would we be 
now, but for the doctrines and labors of the Washingtons, the 
Lafayettes, the Jeffei'sons, and the Lincolns, of our history 
Let us emulate their virtues, while we cherish their principles, 
and carry forward the structure wiiich their labors founded, 



22 

until the glorious temple of liberty shall reach its completion 
and overshadow all lands. 

Thousands on thousands have fallen martyrs to the cause of 
the Union, of Truth, and of Humanity. Thousands are the 
crippled testimonies of the wicked hate of rebellion. The 
light of thousands of homes has gone out amidst tlie wail of 
widowed and orphaned hearts. But here ceases the sad 
record. Beyond the lives and health of our brave soldiery, 
the nation has suffered but little. Commerce has revived, and 
plenty abounds. To compensate for the offerings of life and 
treasure, we have a peace that, as Lincoln hoped, has " come 
to stay, and which will be worth the keeping for all future 
time." Soon, at best, the thousands who occupy these scenes, 
the millions spread over these States will all have passed 
away as a dream. What avails then, with God, the lingering 
of a few years longer, or the hastening away by a few years 
sooner of these brief-lived beings ? " For a thousand years in 
His sight are but as yesterday." If we gain then the settle- 
ment of grave questions of Humanity, Civilization, and Gov- 
ernment ; if the last vestige of the terrible woe of Slavery be 
removed, we may claim the good obtained to have been cheaply 
purchased. 

Our national power stands nobly vindicated to-da}^, before 
the world, in the splendid achievements of our Army and 
ISTavy. The prowess of our people and their attachment to 
principle shine forth in the names of Donelson, Vicksbnrg, 
Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, New Orleans, Spott- 
sylvania, and the plains of Petersburg. The names of the 
Sumners, the Kearneys, the Sedg wicks, the Shermans, the 
Sheridans, and the Grants, of our nation, are a tower of 
strength to us. Hail then this liour — its issues are the vastest 
the world ever knew. 

Wrong is vanquished ! Right triumphs ! 

" There is a font about to stream ; 
There is a light about to beam ; 
There is a warmth about to flow ; 



23 

There is a flower about to blow ; 
There is a midaight blackaess, changing 

Into gray. 
Men of thought, and men of action, 

Clear the way. 

Aid the dawning, tongue and pen ; 
Aid it, hopes of honest men ; 
Aid it paper, aid it type ; 
Aid it, for the hour is ripe ; 
And our earnest must not slacken 

Into play. 
Men of thought, and men of action. 

Clear the way." 



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